Couple saved £17k doing up first home with help from YouTube and DIY books
Danielle Owen-Brodie, 30, and her boyfriend Darren, Grogan, 29, have learned how to brick lay, put up props and lay floors since buying their first home in July last year
A COUPLE from Manchester saved £17,000 by watching YouTube tutorials and using DIY books to renovate their first home themselves.
Danielle Owen-Brodie, 30, and her boyfriend Darren, Grogan, 29, bought their three-bed semi-detached home last July for £134,000.
Opting for a fixer-upper can shave £40,000 off the market value, according to Direct Line Home Insurance, making them a more affordable way for first-time buyers to get on the property ladder.
The extra work, time and money that is needed to turn a fixer-upper into a home does put buyers off, especially when its their first time.
But that wasn't the case for Danielle and Darren who took on the task themselves - and have even built walls and laid floors in their new pad.
It started after a housing survey revealed the 1930s property had damp and structural issues.
Estimates from builders said that it would cost at least £2,500 to fix but instead of being put off they used this to their advantage and got £6,000 knocked off the asking price.
When they got the keys in July last year, they began looking at how they could repair the property without paying a builder.
For Danielle, a senior risk complaints auditor, and Darren, who's self-employed and works in traffic management, this was a massive risk as they could have done more damage to the property and ended up with an even bigger bill to fix it.
Armed with only YouTube and a DIY book the couple took on the challenge, moving walls, laying floors and uncovering fireplaces themselves - and reckon they've saved £17,000 in the process.
Are you a first-time buyer who want to share tips on how you did it? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 78 24516. Don't forget to join the for the latest tips on buying your first home.
But doing the work on their own hasn't been an easy process, as it started over a year and a half ago and still have a few more months before it will be finished.
This week in the My First Home series, we caught up with Danielle and Darren, who've been sharing the process on Instagram at to find out what it takes to take on a solid DIY challenge.
How much did you pay for your house and what's it like?
We've got a three-bed semi-detached house in Manchester. It's in a quiet cul-de-sac that leads onto the canal.
The bedrooms are a decent size although we've turned the smallest one into an office for when I work from home.
There's a driveway, which was essential for Darren, and a garden at the back which I really wanted. We've got a garage and a front garden too.
We bought it for £134,000 with a 10 per cent deposit which was about £13,400.
Initially it was on the market for £140,000 and we negotiated it down to £138,000.
What help is out there for first-time buyers?
GETTING on the property ladder can feel like a daunting task but there are schemes out there to help first-time buyers have their own home.
Help to Buy Isa - It's a tax-free savings account where for every £200 you save, the Government will add an extra £50. But there's a maximum limit of £3,000 which is paid to your solicitor when you move.
Help to Buy equity loan - The Government will lend you up to 20 per cent of the home's value - or 40 per cent in London - after you've put down a five per cent deposit. The loan is on top of a normal mortgage but it can only be used to buy a new build property.
Lifetime Isa - This is another Government scheme that gives anyone aged 18 to 39 the chance to save tax-free and get a bonus of up to £32,000 towards their first home. You can save up to £4,000 a year and the Government will add 25 per cent on top.
Shared ownership - Co-owning with a housing association means you can buy a part of the property and pay rent on the remaining amount. You can buy anything from 25 to 75 per cent of the property but you're restricted to specific ones.
"First dibs" in London - London Mayor Sadiq Khan is working on a scheme that will restrict sales of all new-build homes in the capital up to £350,000 to UK buyers for three months before any overseas marketing can take place.
Starter Home Initiative - A Government scheme that will see 200,000 new-build homes in England sold to first-time buyers with a 20 per cent discount by 2020. To receive updates on the progress of these homes you can register your interest on the website.
We paid £200 for a survey which came back with a few serious issues that needed to be fixed, like damp under the floors downstairs and the mortar in the walls was eroding.
We were quoted £2,500 by an expert to get it fixed so we reduced our offer to £130,000, and agreed on £134,000 with the seller.
The offer was put in April 2018 and we got the keys in July.
Was saving up for a deposit hard? How did you manage it?
I met Darren two and a half years ago, and he'd already saved enough money to buy his own place by then - so really he was just waiting for me to get my act together!
We were renting a two up, two down in Manchester paying £425 a month - we now pay £500 a month on our mortgage.
We had one last big blow out trip to New York a couple of years ago and then spent 18 months saving.
My wages differ every month because I also claim mileage but I set myself a budget of £150 a month to live off.
It meant I could tuck away between £800 and £900 every month but we did hardly anything while we saved.
I gave up the gym to save £25 a month and switched to a sim-only deal on my phone to save another £20.
We didn't go out for meals or anything like that but we had friends round to us which made socialising cheaper.
In the end we saved about £32,000 between us, including my £14,000, for the deposit and the renovation work.
When did you find out there were issues with the house?
Deciding on a house was hard because we were both so specific about what we wanted so we made a pact about not going to view one until we both agreed.
It was months before we found somewhere we agreed on and this was the only place we looked at in the end.
Our offer had been accepted and we paid £200 for a survey. That's when we found out about the damp and the mortar.
We got a professional round who quoted us £2,500 to get it fixed. We could afford it and really wanted it so we went through with the sale.
What work have you done and why did you decide to do it yourselves?
Aside from fixing the damp and structural issues, we knew we wanted to do more like lay new flooring and put a new kitchen in.
To make the most of our budget we started looking into doing the work ourselves where we could.
We watched YouTube videos and read DIY books and help from my dad and sort of got on with it.
We've got a family friend who's a builder as a back up but we haven't had to use him yet.
We started doing the work in July but didn't move in until November while we got the bulk of it done.
Every evening and weekend after work we'd go to the house to work on it.
Before, the front door opened into the lounge but we put a wall in to make a hallway.
A neighbour who was also renovating his house down the road, which had been built the same as ours, told us which wall was the supporting wall so we knew not to make any changes to it.
We put props up ourselves before we moved walls, put in concrete lintels - supports that go in above doors and windows - when moving doorways and learned to lay bricks and rip them down.
How much has it cost you so far?
We didn't get quotes for everything but for example, one builder quoted us £1,500 to move a doorway but we watched video on YouTube and did it ourselves for £110.
There were some things that we couldn't do and needed a professional.
Altogether, we paid experts £9,000 to to get it made damp proof, wall ties and timber replacements, plasterer, window work and the occasional plumber around.
So far we've spent £17,000 on the work all together but I reckon it would have costs us at least twice as much to get someone else to do it.
We've still got to do the garden and the bathroom to do this year.
MY FIRST HOME
Was it worth it taking on such a challenge?
Absolutely. I mean, when I look back on it I think we must have been a mad - we were so busy.
But nothing's gone wrong yet and we're really proud of the work. It's finally our home.
We've been looking at other house prices in the area too similar to ours which sell for between £165,000 and £170,000.
It's not going to be our forever home but hopefully we'll still make some money on it even after the renovation.
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